Words fail Benítez after Valbuena strike punishes meek Liverpool

Anfield has built its reputation on raucous European atmospheres but an unfamiliar sound accompanied Liverpool down the tunnel last night. Boos reverberated around a stadium unacquainted with defeat in the Champions League proper since Rafael Benítez's Valencia won here in October 2002, and the uncharacteristic response was perfectly in tune with a performance the Spaniard readily accepted as the worst of his Liverpool reign.

Defeat to Marseille, a deserved reverse against a team who languish 17th in the French league yet now find themselves top of Group A, may not represent the meekest showing of the Benítez era when the Liverpool manager pauses for reflection today. Few, however, would dispute the precariousness of his club's position after Porto compounded this defeat with a stoppage-time winner in Istanbul.

Liverpool now lie third in their group and three points off the pace, an unfamiliar place for a team who have made such light work of progress in Europe under Benítez but who appeared complacent about their ability to cruise beyond Marseille in Eric Gerets' first game in charge. Their only relief is the impending double header with the group's basement club, Besiktas, although there are no guarantees on this form.

"That could be the worst performance of my time here," Benítez said. "It was very bad, a very bad game." The manager's brevity was a reflection of his fury. He expanded, or at least he tried: "It was a poor game. We didn't do the right things from the beginning. We didn't pass, we couldn't control the game, and we didn't create anything until we pressed a little bit at the end. We didn't play well."

Liverpool had not impressed in their opening fixture in Porto but there they escaped with a draw. Last night there was no reprieve for a second successive meagre offering in Europe and Marseille exacted due punishment, inflicting the first group defeat on Liverpool in 10 games and becoming the first French club to taste victory at Anfield. Confirming the old adage of raising a game for the new manager, Marseille were quicker to every challenge, sharper in possession and, through Mathieu Valbuena's immaculate strike 13 minutes from time, merited victors.

Gerets was at a loss to explain their transformation, "I just did my job," he said. "It was nothing to do with me, it was all about the players. We made a few technical errors but no tactical errors whatsoever tonight."

This is another setback for Liverpool that will inevitably turn attention to Benítez's rotation system as disappointment leads to inquests, but that would be to simplify a flawed show and to excuse the Anfield squad from collective responsibility. The Liverpool manager recalled Mohamed Sissoko for the hugely influential Javier Mascherano and gave his South American left flank, the Brazilian full-back Fabio Aurelio and the young Argentinian winger Sebastián Leto, a chance to reprise their partnership against Reading in the Carling Cup. The Champions League is a higher plane, however, and it showed in the performances of those under orders to make an instant impression.

It was painful to watch Sissoko as his every touch struck a pale blue shirt or sailed into touch, and Leto, a £1.85m signing from Lanús in the summer, faded into anonymity before Benítez realised he was still on the field and withdrew him after 52 minutes. But they were not the only culprits and, as the Spaniard pointedly said, his established assets also did not produce. "You can talk about the team selection but you have been talking about the big names recently and the big names were here tonight," he said. "And they didn't play well."

Marseille's front line of Mamadou Niang and the busy Valbuena were a constant menace, Niang almost capitalising on a mistake by Aurelio in the 12th minute only for José Reina to save with his knees. The Senegalese striker was harshly adjudged offside when he missed at point-blank range from a Boudewijn Zenden cross, but Karim Ziani converted the rebound to spark mass appeals from the visiting ranks. To no avail.

Liverpool offered little in response until they fell behind to a wonderfully executed finish, but one that should have been avoided when Sissoko, the accident waiting to happen, carelessly lost possession outside his own area. Valbuena and Zenden exchanged passes, the little striker lofted a shot into the top corner for the first goal Liverpool have conceded from open play this season, and though Fernando Torres hit the post in stoppage-time the home side deserved nothing.

Asked whether there was anything positive to take from the contest Benítez paused for a moment. "Yes," he replied. "It has finished." As Liverpool's Champions League campaign will be without an instant improvement.